1953-2006

Maria was born in a small town in Durango, Mexico and she was the sixth child of my dad’s family. In 1963, her parents, my grandparents moved to Juarez, Mexico in hopes of finding better economic and educational opportunities for the family.

She continued the fourth grade there but little did she know the sixth grade would be her last year of being in school. She only got to finish elementary and a part of middle school due to taking care of all her younger siblings at home.She got a job at the age of sixteen, in order to maintain her family of eleven siblings and her parents.

Maria was diagnosed with stage four cancer of the colon and she made a long way of therapy. I really wish I would’ve got to know her better but the only vivid memory I have of her is being at her house and watching her walk with the assistance of a nurse. The strength it requires to live a life filled with stress like hers is beyond my imagination. She was basically forced to grow up because they needed her as an adult and I think it’s important to give her credit and honor her memory. We will always remember her as the woman that could take anything broken and somehow manage to fix it.